Heboric Light Touch
Heboric Light Touch [Heh-'Boar'-ick]Ten Very Big Books podcast As pronounced by Steven Erikson at 05:37 was an exiled historian and ex-High Priest of Fener.Deadhouse Gates, Dramatis Personae, UK MMPB p.17 He was described as resembling "a sunken-eyed toad". He was bald, his face webbed in tattooing, minute, black, square-etched symbols hidden within an overall pattern covering skin like a wrinkled scroll", and he had no hands. Of his tattoos, it was said that "the boar's face overlay his own, the intricate maze of script-threaded, curled fur wound down his arms, covering his exposed thighs and shins, and … detailed hooves were etched into the skin of his feet."Deadhouse Gates, Prologue, US HC p.22-23 His tattoos were magical in nature, quickly healing his wounds.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 3, US HC p.84 When active, they became thicker, blacker, and more detailed, depicting each of the boar's hairs. Over his heart he bore the sacred mark of Fener, and his missing right hand had once been tattooed with a key.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 7, US HC p.184-185/187 He walked with an odd, toad-like gait.The Bonehunters, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.159 Works *Among the ConsignedThe Bonehunters, Book 3, Epigraph *Conspiracies in the Imperium *T'matha's Children In Deadhouse Gates Heboric's writings made him a victim of The Cull in Unta when they challenged the competency of Empress Laseen. Imperial Historian Duiker had defended him at trial to no avail and the ex-priest was placed on a slave ship bound for the Otataral mines in Seven Cities. Along the way, he fell in with fellow prisoners, Felisin Paran and Baudin.Deadhouse Gates, Prologue ]The historian and his companions escaped the Skullcup camp when the native guards revolted as part of the Whirlwind uprising.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 6 Knowing Duiker had arranged transport, they traveled into the Otataral Desert in an effort to reach the coast. Along their journey, he came in contact with a "jade giant", one of many statues buried in the sands long ago. When he touched it, it burned the stump of his right wrist, which became saturated with the otataral-tinged other-worldly power of the jade.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 7, US HC p.183 ] Dying of hunger and thirst in the desert and desperate for aid, Baudin pushed the stump of the unconscious Heboric's hand against the seal tattoo on his chest. The "touch" of the poisoned hand opened the god's Warren and pushed Fener unwillingly into the mortal realm.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 7, US HC p.187-189 Afterwards, Heboric possessed two ghostly hands, invisible to normal sight but capable of interacting with the world with great strength. To those with the sensitivity to see them, the left was outlined by the tattoos of Fener while the right was shot through with veins of red otataral and jade.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 8, US HC p.205Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 12, US HC p.326-327 The trio were rescued from the coast by Kulp, Gesler, Stormy, and Truth. But their ship fell through the Warrens, and Heboric, Felisin, Baudin, and Kulp were dropped in the Holy Desert of Raraku.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 11 There, Heboric was blinded by a sandstorm, but gained a supernatural vision that gave him extraordinary knowledge and insight.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 12 After the deaths of Baudin and Kulp at the hands of Gryllen, Heboric and Felisin stumbled upon the corpse of Sha'ik and her bodyguards, Leoman and Toblakai.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 14, US HC p.385 Leoman brought them to the Whirlwind camp at the Raraku oasis where Felisin opened the Book of Dryjhna and took up the mantle of Sha'ik Reborn.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 18 In Memories of Ice While standing amidst the destruction of Capustan, Ganoes Paran had a vision of a green stone monolith towering above the desert sand. Without realizing it, he observed his sister Felisin, Baudin, and Heboric at the moment the historian touched the jade statue in Seven Cities. The result was a tear in the sky as Fener was dragged unwillingly into the mortal realm. Paran feared the god was as good as dead now that he was vulnerable to the same dangers as other mortals.Memories of Ice, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.578 Anomander Rake claimed the object Heboric touched brought him into contact with the Warren of Chaos, and had possibly been forged there. Heboric's contact with the stump of his hand had sent an uncontrolled surge of power to where the hands were safely sealed away in Fener's realm. The hands had then pushed Fener out of his realm to his inevitable doom. Further, Rake revealed that Heboric's punishment had been politically motivated and not an act of purest judgement as required by Fener's Reve. If not for the god's fall, Heboric would have retrieved his hands in death and then become a weapon of Fener's vengeance against those who had wronged him. The Son of Darkness warned that the Empress, the Claw, and the Malazan Empire would then have faced a dark storm. In House of Chains Living in the armed camp that was the Raraku Oasis, Heboric's sleep was unsettled by relentless dreams of a massive and alien face of jade. He came to the understanding that his hands had not been claimed by Fener, but by the giant buried in the desert. Heboric suspected the jade giant had come from another realm for a hidden purpose, and the historian drank Hen'bara tea given him by Sha'ik every night in an attempt to achieve oblivion.House of Chains, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.302-303 The historian, now known as Heboric Ghost HandsHouse of Chains, Dramatis Personae or Ghost Hands,House of Chains, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.280 kept many secrets from Sha'ik Reborn in order to spare her grief. He was aware of the true identity of the newly revealed Master of the Deck, but chose to keep this knowledge from Felisin.House of Chains, Chapter 10, US SFBC p.390 Made aware of Bidithal's perverse designs on Felisin Younger, he kept the knowledge to himself as Sha'ik needed the High Mage as a check against the others who conspired against her. Instead, Heboric confronted Bidithal and warned him of the consequences of acting against's Sha'ik's adopted daughter.House of Chains, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.287-295 Heboric also shared secrets with L'oric regarding the jade giants and L'oric's true nature.House of Chains, Chapter 10, US SFBC p.397-403 Sha'ik later admitted that the hen'bara tea she gave Heboric to quiet his dreams actually had the opposite effect. The giant of jade had the power to overcome and destroy otataral. As Sha'ik's Malazan enemies approached Raraku bearing an otataral sword that would neutralize the magic of her High Mages, Sha'ik desperately needed a counter. She entreated Heboric to use the tea to discover the answer.House of Chains, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.483-484 Heboric begrudgingly complied, ingesting a high dose of the drug. The historian soon found himself amidst a sea of stars in The Abyss observing scores of the giants tumbling towards an enormous wound in space. He discovered that the giants were related to the fall of the Crippled God and had fallen through the wound in his wake.House of Chains, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.491-496 When Heboric awoke, he discovered the otataral veins in his hands were gone, no longer obscuring that the new god of war, Treach, had claimed him as his Destriant.House of Chains, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.495-496 Heboric underwent a physical transformation at the revelation. No longer blind, his eyes became those of a cat. His tattoos became the barbs of a tiger. He found his hearing greatly increased and his nose able to follow scent trails. His aches and pains were replaced by a new physicality of feline grace and strength.House of Chains, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.496House of Chains, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.605-607 His ghost hands grew talons.House of Chains, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.701 The new Destriant soon discovered Bidithal's desecration of Felising Younger, but withheld his vengeance. He could not risk drawing the young god, Treach, into conflict with whatever power Bidithal served. Heboric chose to bide his time and remain a silent hunter.House of Chains, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.614 When Korbolo Dom finally turned on Sha'ik, he sent his assassins to slay his rivals. Heboric rescued Scillara from two guards before nearly falling to Dom's killers himself.House of Chains, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.699-702 He was rescued by a trio of Bridgeburner ghosts.House of Chains, Chapter 24, US SFBC p.765-766 L'oric convinced Heboric to take Felisin Younger to safety, along with Scillara and L'oric's familiar, Greyfrog.House of Chains, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.812 They escaped the Raraku oasis just before Karsa came looking for vengeance against the hated historian and before Sha'ik Reborn's death.House of Chains, Chapter 26, US SFBC p.819/828 They soon found their way to Tesem and the company of Iskaral Pust and Cutter.House of Chains, Chapter 26, US SFBC p.847-849 In The Bonehunters Cutter, Scillara, Felisin Younger, and Greyfrog accompanied Heboric on a journey to return the former historian to Otataral Island. Referred to as Heboric Ghost Hands, the new Destriant saw ghosts wherever anyone fell in battle, something not in short supply in ancient Seven Cities. His taloned hands continually faded in and out of existence.The Bonehunters, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.87-89 The ghosts' silent, accusatory stares made him doubt his role as Destriant. His dreams were also beset by the whispers of the jade strangers, begging for him to return to their prison. Heboric was determined to return their "cursed gift of jade".The Bonehunters, Chapter 9, US SFBC p.402 Heboric was driven mad by the presence of the Otataral in his body as well as the alien presence left by the jade giant. He was killed by the unbound T'lan Imass who kidnapped Felisin Younger. His body was taken to Otataral Island by Cutter, Scillara, Barathol Mekhar, and Chaur. During the jade meteor shower, he took the role as Shield Anvil and accepted the pain of those imprisoned by the jade statues. In Toll the Hounds (Information needed) In Dust of Dreams (Information needed) In The Crippled God ] Heboric's soul was rejected by Hood. He was shown to be still traumatized by the events that occurred in Deadhouse Gates, though he was consoled by K'rul and Mael. In the finale, he chained Korabas to save her from T'iam, with the aid of the Crippled God. In Kellanved's Reach Heboric, in the early days of the formation of the Malazan Empire, was a committed priest of Fener. Heboric had been endowed by Fener with a tattoo of a "rampaging boar" - which covered the priest's entire body. Perhaps to better display the entirety of this tattoo, Heboric wore only a simple loincloth. Heboric was, at this time, squat but powerfully built. He was described as having heavy lips with which he would give good-natured "frog-like lopsided"Kellanved's Reach, Chapter 6, US TPB p.95 grins. Heboric had been a member of a temple devoted to Fener - whose priests, priestesses, and other faithful he had considered to be his adopted family.Kellanved's Reach, Chapter 4, US TPB p.66 However, Heboric began to notice disturbances among the Warrens. Strange manifestations were occurring due, apparently, to power from unknown sources. Because of this "peculiar restiveness among the pantheon" of the gods, Heboric left his home temple and began to travel widely to visit other cults and individuals looking for answers. For example, Heboric had not only met with devotees of such cults as the ones of the Queen of Dreams/Enchantress, of K'rul, and of Poliel; but had also met with hermits and ascetics who spoke for various "eldritch powers".Kellanved's Reach, Chapter 4, US TPB p.66-67 Heboric was in the process of travelling between a temple devoted to Poliel in Horan — eastward along the southern shore of Quon Tali — to the "Isle of the Cursed", aka Poliel's "Isle of the Blessed", when he was intercepted by a group of two priests and two priestesses of Fener from his home temple. The speakers for the group - mainly the eldest, Brother Eliac - who addressed him as "Heboric of Carasin" - and the youngest, a Napan priestess of Fener, told Heboric that they had been sent to urge him to return with them. Heboric refused, having his own agenda to which he felt "called". The four reluctantly accepted Heboric's decision and left Heboric with the words, "May the Great Boar watch over you".Kellanved's Reach, Chapter 4, US TPB p.66-68 History Heboric had once been a cut-purse from the Mouse Quarter of Malaz City before becoming a priest and historian.Deadhouse Gates, Prologue, US HC p.26 His skill at his former profession had earned him the nickname Light Touch.House of Chains, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.613 In his scholarly writings he had criticized the works of Duiker as deliberate lies.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 6, US HC p.145 In Cotillion's memory, Heboric had been only a minor historian of Unta.The Bonehunters, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.122 At one point he seemed destined to take on the title of Fener's Destriant,Memories of Ice, Chapter 14, Epigraph, US SFBC p.448 but Heboric's name was stricken from the temple records, and his hands had been ritually severed as part of his excommunication. This meant that the tattoos he sported on his hand and chest as part of his priesthood could no longer be activated to open a Warren. The ritual should have been the expression of purest justice, but in this case, it was not. His hands had been sent to Fener's hooves to await his death and his elevation to a position of Fener's wrath. Because the ritual was flawed, however, his hands were as poison to the god and were sealed until his spirit could come and collect them.Memories of Ice, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.631-632 Likely, the reason for the ritual punishment of Fener's Reve was to reduce the the influence of Fener within the Empire as well as punish Heboric's particular avenue of historical analysis. His investigation had concluded that Laseen had failed in her attempt to assassinate Kellanved and Dancer and that they had instead ascended. This was knowledge that was dangerous for the Empress and so she called for the ritual and had him sent to the Otataral mines. Poetry Notes and references de:Heboric Category:Males Category:Priests and acolytes Category:Malazans Category:Humans Category:Shield Anvils Category:Destriants